Page 20 of Sinful Need
“I’ll let you talk but we open in twenty minutes.” I’ve been around long enough to know when to dismiss myself but what most people don’t know is how observant I am. I listen and watch and use the morsels of information at my disposal for my own survival. It’s a skill I’ve honed over the years and the reason I can position myself close enough to over hear every word while tidying up my bar.
Everything I know about blackmail I learned from Hawk and how joyous the moment was when I finally used his tacticsagainst him. That moment changed my life in ways I couldn’t even imagine. There’s nothing I’d love more than Hawk dead but I’ll be damned if I’m slinking away without knowing what this proposition is about. I have too much at stake to risk a plan of this magnitude getting fucked up. If they try and fail, I’ll lose everything.
“What kind of proposition?” Storm asks.
“You said you don’t have the numbers but what about with the five of us?”
Storm leans forward, “Don’t bullshit me, you didn’t come all this way, after all these years to help me kill Hawk without a reason. Why are you here?”
“You know as well as we do that the Viper’s Den is kidnapping and trafficking women.” A shiver runs down my spine. Storm and I have had our suspicions for years but could never prove it. Even when Hawk made me the deal of a lifetime, in my gut, I knew the truth but didn’t want to let myself believe it. That would mean I’m an accomplice. That’s why he’s back looking to cash in. I force myself to breathe. I won’t allow it to happen. I can’t.“Two of our own got caught up in it. So you’re going to have to pick sides.”
Storm sits back in his chair, “Shit man. I do what I have to do to stay alive but I can’t stomach that shit.”
He knew?My insides twist in a knot. His hands are as dirty as mine.
“Then help us get to him.”
“What’s in it for me?”
Jase slams his fist on the table, “I return the solid you gave to me seven years ago and let you live.”
“I want the club. I have a plan to make us bigger and stronger. Under the right leadership we can move in a different direction.”
“That’s your move to make. Help us take down everyone who doesn’t stand with you and we won’t stand in your way,” Chainz tells him.
“If you're serious, I think I know a way.”
“Never been more serious. Tell me what you’re thinking.” Chainz says, his voice cold and callous.
Storm looks around and I quickly snap my head down and continue to wipe the tables.
“We’re moving the herd tonight.”
“Herd?” Jase asks, the disgust in his voice matching the one forming in my stomach.
“That’s what he calls them. Women are cattle to him. You know that.”
“All too well.” For a brief second Jase meets my eyes and swiftly returns his attention to Storm.
“We need a location.” Chainz tells him.
Storm leans in, lowering his voice. I shift to another table having to work harder to hear. “Twenty miles North-East. There’s an abandoned military airfield between the desert hills and the tracks. The women will be rounded up from multiple locations just after midnight and brought to the hangar. The buyer will send a single engine plane to pick them up. By sunrise they’ll be gone and so will our chance.”
“How many men does Hawk have?”
“Twenty. Four with red bandanas hanging on their belt lopes. They’re with me and ready to fight as soon as you make the move. Hawk needs five pussies to fill his quota.”
“Five?” Jase and Chainz share something unspoken in their eye contact. “We know of three missing women. Where’s he going to get the other two?”
Storm meets my wandering glances again. The turmoil he’s named for is looming in his eyes. “I don’t know.”
No one seems to notice the passing look between us but I know what he’s saying even if he doesn’t speak the words. I know the time to repay my debt is coming. I swallow the lump in my throat and choke back the tears in my eyes.
“Should I get the door?” Abby’s voice booms from behind me, making me jump.
I glance at the time. I can’t give them anymore. If I’m late to open and Hawk is watching, it’ll raise suspicion. He doesn’t trust any of us as it is. “Yes.”
The three men stand from their seats. Chainz reaches his hand out to Storm. “Tomorrow night it is then. Together we have ten. Your men better be good shots because mine are.”
